Prolonged grief disorder symptoms and posttraumatic growth among Chinese shidu parents: A latent transition analysis.

Objective: Chinese shidu parents (bereaved parents who have lost the only child) may experience prolonged grief disorder, as well as posttraumatic growth (PTG). This study aimed to examine their latent classes and transition patterns of prolonged grief disorder symptoms and PTG.

Method: Based on a longitudinal design, 265 shidu parents completed the Prolonged Grief Scale-Revised and Short Form of Posttraumatic Growth Inventory for Chinese Shidu Parents twice with an interval of about 5 months.

Grief and coping among relatives of patients who died of COVID-19 in intensive care during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The grief of relatives of patients who died of COVID-19 in an intensive care unit (ICU) has exacted an enormous toll worldwide.

Aims: To determine the prevalence of probable prolonged grief disorder (PGD) at 12 months post-loss and beyond. We also sought to examine circumstances of the death during the COVID-19 pandemic that might pose a heightened risk of PGD, and the associations between probable PGD diagnosis, quality of life and social disconnection.

A protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial of unguided internet cognitive behaviour therapy for grief in adolescents.

Grief is highly prevalent in adolescents, however, there have been no studies investigating internet delivered cognitive behaviour therapy for grief in adolescents (ICBT-G-A). In this paper, the co-design of an unguided ICBT-G-A intervention is described, and a protocol outlined for a pilot randomised controlled trial of the intervention. Participants will be randomised to the intervention (delivered via eight modules over a four-week period) or a four-week waitlist control.

From loss to disorder: The influence of maladaptive coping on prolonged grief.

Research indicates that post-bereavement coping strategies can be adaptive or maladaptive. Understanding which strategies lead to poorer outcomes is an important clinical and theoretical question with the potential to guide intervention. The Oxford Grief - Coping Strategies scale was developed from interviews with bereaved people with and without prolonged grief disorder (PGD) to assess the frequency of maladaptive cognitive and behavioural strategies after bereavement.

How the bereaved behave: a cross-cultural study of emotional display behaviours and rules.

Cultural norms may dictate how grief is displayed. The present study explores the display behaviours and rules in the bereavement context from a cross-cultural perspective. 86 German-speaking Swiss and 99 Chinese bereaved people who lost their first-degree relative completed the adapted bereavement version of the Display Rules Assessment Inventory.

Coping strategies as a causal mediator of the effect of loss-related memory characteristics and negative loss-related appraisals on symptoms of PGD, PTSD and depression.

Background: Psychological models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and prolonged grief disorder (PGD) make predictions about the role of unhelpful coping strategies in maintaining difficulties by blocking self-correction of negative appraisals and memory integration following stressful life events like bereavement. However, few studies have tested these predictions directly.

Method: We used counterfactually based causal mediation to assess whether unhelpful coping strategies mediated the relationship between (1) loss-related memory characteristics and/or (2) negative grief-related appraisals and symptoms of PGD, PTSD and depression using a three-wave longitudinal sample ( = 275).

Existential isolation and prolonged grief in bereaved people: The moderating role of culture.

Objective: Existential isolation refers to an individual's awareness of the unbridgeable gulf between oneself, other people and the world. This kind of isolation has been found to be higher in individuals with nonnormative experiences, such as racial or sexual minorities. Bereaved individuals may experience a stronger sense of existential isolation and feel that no one shares their feelings or perceptions.

Psychometric Characteristics of the Oxford Grief Memory Characteristics Scale and Its Relationship With Symptoms of ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR Prolonged Grief Disorder.

Difficulties with loss-related memories are hypothesised to be an important feature of severe and enduring grief reactions according to clinical and theoretical models. However, to date, there are no self-report instruments that capture the different aspects of memory relevant to grieving and adaptation after bereavement over time. The Oxford Grief-Memory characteristics scale (OG-M) was developed using interviews with bereaved individuals and was subject to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in a community sample ( = 676).

Support needs and barriers to accessing support: Baseline results of a mixed-methods national survey of people bereaved during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is a mass bereavement event which has profoundly disrupted grief experiences. Understanding support needs and access to support among people bereaved at this time is crucial to ensuring appropriate bereavement support infrastructure.

Aim: To investigate grief experiences, support needs and use of formal and informal bereavement support among people bereaved during the pandemic.

Prolonged grief and posttraumatic stress disorder following the loss of a significant other: An investigation of cognitive and behavioural differences.

Background: Cognitive behavioural correlates to bereavement-related mental health problems such a Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are of theoretical and clinical importance.

Methods: Individuals bereaved at least six months (N = 647) completed measures of loss-related cognitions and behaviours (i.e.

Validation of the new DSM-5-TR criteria for prolonged grief disorder and the PG-13-Revised (PG-13-R) scale.

Although the concept of pathological grief dates back at least as far as Freud's "Mourning and Melancholia", there has been opposition to its recognition as a distinct mental disorder. Resistance has been overcome by evidence demonstrating that distinctive symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) - an attachment disturbance featuring yearning for the deceased, loss of meaning and identity disruption - can endure, prove distressing and disabling, and require targeted treatment. In acknowledgement of this evidence, the American Psychiatric Association Assembly has recently voted to include PGD as a new mental disorder in the DSM-5-TR.

A qualitative analysis of loss-related memories after cancer loss: a comparison of bereaved people with and without prolonged grief disorder.

: The study aimed to explore the content and features of loss-related memories in a sample of individuals bereaved by cancer with and without a probable diagnosis of prolonged grief disorder/persistent complex bereavement disorder (PGD/PCBD). : Semi-structured interviews with 28 bereaved adults (PGD/PCBD = 12, NoPGD/PCBD = 16) were analysed using thematic analysis. : Three superordinate themes were identified: (1) intrusive imagery, (2) qualities of memory, and (3) triggers.

The Masking of Mourning: Social Disconnection After Bereavement and Its Role in Psychological Distress.

Social support has been shown to facilitate adaptation after bereavement in some studies but not others. A felt sense of social disconnection may act as a barrier to the utilization of social support, perhaps explaining these discrepancies. Factorial and psychometric validity of the Oxford Grief-Social Disconnection Scale (OG-SD) was tested in a bereaved sample ( = 676).

Cognitive predictors of grief trajectories in the first months of loss: A latent growth mixture model.

Objective: The identification of modifiable cognitive antecedents of trajectories of grief is of clinical and theoretical interest.

Method: The study gathered 3-wave data on 275 bereaved adults in the first 12-18 months postloss (T1 = 0-6 months, T2 = 6-12 months, T3 = 12-18 months). Participants completed measures of grief severity, cognitive factors (loss-related memory characteristics, negative appraisals, unhelpful coping strategies, and grief resilience), as well as measures of interpersonal individual differences (attachment and dependency).

Effectiveness of a Cancer Bereavement Therapeutic Group.

This study examined the effectiveness of a novel cancer bereavement group. Twenty-seven participants attended a sixsession cancer bereavement therapeutic group. Data were collected at baseline, intervention completion, and three-month follow-up.

Treatment Efficacy for Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Latent Class Trajectories of Treatment Response and Their Predictors.

Evidence suggests that veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have a poorer treatment response than nonveterans.  In this study, we explored heterogeneity in treatment response for 960 veterans in the United Kingdom with PTSD who had been offered a residential intervention consisting of a mixture of group sessions and individual trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). The primary outcome was PTSD score on the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R).

Conducting ethical internet-based research with vulnerable populations: a qualitative study of bereaved participants' experiences of online questionnaires.

: Bereavement can be considered a potentially traumatic experience, and concerns have been raised about conducting grief research responsibly online. : Given that online research introduces new methodological opportunities and challenges, we aimed to develop a greater understanding of how bereaved individuals experience participation in online research. : One day after participation in an online grief study, 876 participants, bereaved on average for 40 months, received a 'check-in' email to support well-being and offer further contact if needed.

Conducting research in clinical psychology practice: Barriers, facilitators, and recommendations.

Objectives: The combination of clinical psychologists' therapeutic expertise and research training means that they are in an ideal position to be conducting high-quality research projects. However, despite these skills and the documented benefits of research to services and service users, research activity in practice remains low. This article aims to give an overview of the advantages of, and difficulties in conducting research in clinical practice.

An adapted imaginal exposure approach to traditional methods used within trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy, trialled with a veteran population.

Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (TF-CBT) is beneficial for individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, a subset of clients struggle to engage with traditional methods, due to high levels of avoidance and dissociation. This paper aims to describe an adapted approach to imaginal reliving and prolonged exposure, to facilitate subsequent cognitive updating. The paper demonstrates the technique with veterans, who are a client group that may struggle with some aspects of traditionally implemented TF-CBT.

Impaired allocentric spatial processing in posttraumatic stress disorder.

A neurobiological dual representation model of PTSD proposes that reduced hippocampus-dependent contextual processing contributes to intrusive imagery due to a loss of control over hippocampus-independent sensory and affective representations. We investigated whether PTSD sufferers show impaired allocentric spatial processing indicative of reduced hippocampal functioning. Trauma-exposed individuals with (N=29) and without (N=30) a diagnosis of PTSD completed two tests of spatial processing: a topographical recognition task comprising perceptual and memory components, and a test of memory for objects' locations within a virtual environment in which the test is from either the same viewpoint as presentation (solvable with egocentric memory) or a different viewpoint (requiring allocentric memory).